(Note from Pete: This article is taken
from a phone-call recorded by Lily Gold when speaking with MAA Keating last year
about how to advance her training. This is just the first of many
questions she asked JAK during their conversation! In future Training Tips
perhaps we'll cover more...)

Q: What are the most important physical
skills to have for open hand, knife and stick and what drills are the best for
getting these?

A: I’m a conceptualist with everything,
and a lot of times people have said to me that I answer things in kind of a
roundabout fashion, which I suppose might be true, but it’s because concept as
you know is kind of hard to pin down. Technique you pin down right away, but
with concepts it’s a case of “I don’t know; what are we dealing with?”

I look at everything from that lens ninety
percent of the time, so like that I would say for me the components of long and
short range striking are important because your body mechanics are completely
different between reaching out like a boxer with a long range jab popping
someone versus you’re right in close and have to work to hit him, so first
understand the basics of long and short range empty hand fighting and all the
different tools.

The main thing once you have that is
developing your adaptability and then spontaneity. So when we seek these
things, we have to give our bodies the chance to become spontaneous. That
happens through the drills that develop those attributes and also that
spontaneity.

So when people say flow drills, it is really
a prearranged flow exercise, because real flow has no form. You can’t say by
going and doing this 6 count, 5 count, this artificial flow that you are in
flow. That is there designed to teach you flow. It is a flow
example, but it is not “Flow”.

Just because people go clicky-clanky and
there goes sumbrada – there it is – they think they have flow, but no! They
have no flow; they just have a prearranged flow drill. What you need to extract
out of that is not technique, not that level of thought. You need to
extract what flow is.

And flow is like timing, like rhythm,
they’re all invisible. It’s not like a big ol’ set of biceps – “god look at
that guys arms” – or a big bowie knife – “look at that knife” – but how do you
see these invisible things such as timing, rhythm, intent? So like that, flow
is invisible. It is something that must be experienced.

Flow is flow regardless whether empty hand,
knife, stick, or whatever. What I’m saying is once you get your empty hand,
knife stick all in accord, working in their parameters, etc. Well then you use
any of these drills – Sumbrada, Puno Sumbrada, Knife Drill, Cover and Slash,
some of the Wing Chung exercises – you can blend them or whatever, you know what
I mean? And then use it; use it just for that. You just seek
flow!

Yes you’ll learn technique, but as we will
see by training in these areas, technique comes and goes. The stick is a
slightly different technique than the knife and both are slightly different than
the empty hand. There are modifications even doing them directly to the empty
hand. So by learning to adapt, learning what flow is about, having that
awareness set of skills then you can capitalize when the opportunity comes to
enter a flow pattern. Wow, that’s where it’s really at!

So for me then, whatever background you have
is OK - it doesn’t matter. Karate punching, Boxing punching, Kick Boxing,
whether you learned Arnis knife, Kali knife, Military style knife, whether your
stick was from Bata, Craig in Australia (Savate) or whether it was Filipino –
any way you have it your technique background means little because punching,
cutting or whacking somebody with a stick is always going to be similar
no matter what continent your art comes from.

But notice that regardless of art the
concept of being able to flow at such a high level is a skill that is
always talked about but is rarely present. It’s like a ghost! Many talk
about ghosts, but few have seen them or had experiences with them. Flow is like
that, too. Flow is a ghost…

So, you have to actually make it into
something like a substance. Make it work for you! That’s what I think
comprises the bulk of all combat is a quick eye, a quick hand, sharp attributes,
control over the different levels of speed, understanding, having a highly
evolved base of motion and then seeing the world conceptually and being able to
enter then into flow.

And flow could be well that you get socked
in the mouth and knocked on your ass and now this guys sitting on your chest –
well now there’s your flow; what are you gonna’ do about it? Or are you just
going to lie there and let him keep hitting?

SO the Flow is about going with the bad as
well as going with the good and being able to some how redirect it all in that
sense where you can extract the good and avoid the bad, and keep going your way
unimpeded. That’s pretty cool! That’s what flow offers you.

So, these kinds of elements to me make up a
huge chunk of what makes combat more so than the technical things. Plus of
course fighting spirit and shit like that (laughs). Overall I’ve found you need
a generic level of line familiarity, good attributes, a certain level of
athletic performance (stamina / fitness) and then whatever technique or art that
you use - just use it wisely! But like I said the hidden attributes like flow
and timing are the core and the technique are really the least thing that we
need to consider, oddly enough.